Updating the Beagle OS

Once you have all your hardware together go ahead and explore the Bone. It should work right out of the box. After you have explored a while, update the image on the Bone so you are running the most current image. Go to EBC Exercise 03 Installing a Beagle OS to learn how to flash your SD card with a fresh OS.

The Linux host computer

The above will get you ready for about the first 4 weeks of class. Around week 5 we'll start looking at the kernel and will need to cross compile. Once we start moving into Kernel development we will need a host computer. Since we are doing Linux development, it's generally agree the host should be running Linux. I suggest you run Ubuntu 12.04 (LTS). The CSSE department has a local copy so you don't have to download some 700M. You want the desktop-amd64.iso if you have a 64-bit machine, or the desktop-i386.iso if you are running 32-bits.

The Ubuntu site gives good instructions for a native install. I've had good success with running both VMware and Virtual Box, though my installation instructions are a bit dated. (Feel free to update them if they need it.)

I've been testing out the "Cloud" approach and it looks like it will work too. If you want to try the cloud, let me known and I'll ask CSSE to set up a machine for you.

Now that you have all these pieces in place you are ready to work with a very power embedded processor.

The class git repository

Once you have an up to date OS running on your Beagle, go to EBC Exercise 05 Getting Exercise Support Materials to learn how to clone the class git repository. Once cloned it's a single command to get the latest materials on your Beagle (or host computer for that matter).